In recent years, a large number of bills have been handled on a daily basis in the fields of banking business, large-scale retail trade, etc. There is a service to classify and arrange bills according to denomination and fitness (degree of damage). In handling a large number of bills, each 100 bills are normally wrapped or bound for safekeeping. A paper sheet processing apparatus is proposed as a system for automating such a bill arrangement service. The paper sheet processing apparatus comprises a hopper unit, transport mechanism, inspection unit, pocket units, stacking/wrapping apparatus, etc. Unclassified bills are stacked and accommodated in the hopper unit. The transport mechanism picks up the bills one by one from the hopper unit. The inspection unit inspects the transported bills for denomination and fitness levels. The inspected bills are classified by denomination and the like and stacked in the pocket units. The stacking/wrapping apparatus wraps or binds the bills stacked in piles of, for example, 100.
The stacking/wrapping apparatus comprises a stacking device configured to stack bills in units of, for example, 100 bills and a wrapping device located below the stacking device. The wrapping device winds a band around the stacked bills and then pulls and tightens the band, thereby obtaining a force with which to bundle the stacked bills.
The stacking/wrapping apparatus of the paper sheet processing apparatus having the above structure requires a strong band-pulling force that enables the band to have a sufficiently strong bundling force. For this reason, the stacking/wrapping apparatus has to be a solid and strong mechanism and is inevitably large in size. In addition, the wrapping device folds back the end of the band and seizes hold of it in order to prevent the band from slipping off when it is pulled. Since the band length needed for wrapping a bundle of paper sheets increases, the consumable item (band) has to be often replaced with a new one.